Can the West defeat the Islamist terror threat?

Question

On the face of it, its military preponderance makes victory seem inevitable. Even if Tehran acquires a nuclear weapon, Islamists have nothing like the military machine the Axis deployed in World War II, nor the Soviet Union during the cold war. What do the Islamists have to compare with the Wehrmacht or the Red Army? The SS or Spetznaz? The Gestapo or the KGB? Or, for that matter, to Auschwitz or the gulag?

Yet, more than a few analysts worry that it's not so simple. Islamists (defined as persons who demand to live by the sacred law of Islam, the Sharia) might in fact do better than the earlier totalitarians. They could even win. That's because, however strong the Western hardware, its software contains some potentially fatal bugs. Three of them – pacifism, self-hatred, complacency – deserve attention.

Pacifism: Among the educated in the West, the conviction has widely taken hold that "there is no military solution" to current problems, a mantra applied in every Middle East problem.

Source: How the West Could Lose, Daniel Pipes, New York Sun, December 26, 2006

Pacifism: Among the educated, the conviction has taken hold that "there is no military solution"to current problems, a mantra applied to Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the Kurds, terrorism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. But this pragmatic pacifism overlooks the fact that modern history abounds with military solutions. What were the defeats of the Axis, America in Vietnam, or the Soviet Union in Afghanistan if not military solutions?

Self-hatred: Significant elements in several Western countries — especially America, Britain, and Israel — believe their own governments to be repositories of evil and see terrorism as just punishment for past sins. This "we have met the enemy and he is us" attitude replaces an effective response with appeasement, including a readiness to give up traditions and achievements. Osama bin Laden celebrates by name such leftists as Robert Fisk and William Blum.

"Peace m" thinks that by calling someone a Zionist he automatically disproves his arguments. So he didn't bother to examine those arguments.

Iran remains an Islamist threat to the entire Western world. First to the Saturday people, and then to the Sunday people. No matter what sort of name calling this phoney peace advocate does on Yahoo Answers.

Answer 1

The West has the capability of defeating militant Islam... whether it will choose to do so is another story.
Extremist Islam has cleverly divided the U.S. and Europe concerning the issue of terror... so I think it will take a mistake on the terrorists' part before the nations of western Europe would ever be drawn into the conflict. They tend to be so anti-American and anti-Israeli that only if their own citizens were murdered in a terrorist attack would they resort to military action.
It may get VERY messy before it gets better, but if it comes down to lobbing nukes, the US and its allies have more, and know how to use them...
Some people have said that since terrorists are not a standing army, that since they are spread out, often invisible, etc., they cannot be defeated. Well, we must try... the rats must be rooted out of their nests.

Answer 2

Your approach is still aggressive.

The West should be ashamed. Not that the east is much better.

And there is no military solution. Afghanistan is a big a mess now as when they kicked the British out. Iraq is a shambles.

Please understand that robbery, rape, murder and war have been the daily fare for a lot of people for a very very long time.

They don't want Jesus or any other message of peace. Democracy? Whats that got to do with anything when most of your kids are going to die of hunger, illness or by a bomb that cost enough to feed your village for several generations?

You wonder at extremism? You want to know what gives someone the ability to walk in to a shopping mall with several pounds of explosives taped to them?

Try living daily with the threat of death over your children for a while. Try daily living while drinking dirty water and hearing how good life is for those dropping bombs on you.

Kick your philosophy in to touch my friend.....open your eyes and take a look.

Answer 3

It has always baffled me how Europe so easily turns on the U.S. They sit back and berate and berate the U.S. for the condition of Iraq and yet do little to nothing to help the situation. We leave we'll be blamed for the chaos that will erupt. We stay we get blamed for every civilian death no matter if its from a stray bomb or from a suicide bomber. They scream bloody murder about Gitmo proclaiming it some sort of torture camp when no one from the U.N. had even been there (ignoring the fact that the detainees have food, water, better health care than many Americans while in contrast many of the so called refugee camps run by the U.N. are hot beds of murder and rape many times perpetrated BY U.N. staff.). Its sickening. The West will defeat itself if this keeps up. Why do we ignore and make excuses for the hideous crimes of these terrorist while blowing out of all proportion for YEARS any and all mistakes we make? A few inmates in an Iraqi prison are humiliated and we're berated to this day. An innocent American journalist HAS HIS HEAD CUT OFF (how many of you even remember his name?) and its gone in a year. (Not to mention the dozens of others that followed. Remember ANY of their names?)

Answer 4

You'd hear this from many Muslims --

No true Muslims strap bombs to their chests and blow them selves and everything/everyone around them up.

It's disgraceful to our religon -- As a Muslim, it disgusts me to see such ignorant people take in all of this and come up with on conclusion that leads to all Muslims are terrorists and all terrorists are Muslims.


This is not true -- There are plenty of other Irish, Christian, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese, (ect.) terrorists.

The West should have no buisness in the East unless the East invaded the West.

True the 9/11 -- But those where a a few men in many of the East, those men are hated throughout not only the West but the East as well.

Answer 5

as long as societies build themselves up on cultural, religious and racial differences there will always be war. If you want to know what the Islamic extremists have that compares to previous world powers, it's the media. Since they are not an organized army and dress like locals in whatever country they are based in, no army can just rush in and fight "the enemy" because of the risk of killing civilians. The terrorists know that we can't just shoot blindly and hope to eliminate the threat for fear of the good guys looking like the bad guys and in today's day and age image in the media means everything to first world nations.

Answer 6

There are some weaknesses. They are not the brave invincible people that some make them out to be. The leaders hide and hire the mentally ill and criminals to do their dirty work. Remember that suicide is the number one act of violence against a human, so it's easy to get suicide bombers if they are promised Heaven. Most of them are drug addicts with heroin being popular (the U.S. is finding this drug among others among the terrorists in Iraq). We all know what happend with the Manson Family. I think with long term pressure on them, they will snap and fold. Part of the pressure is preventing recruitment through real education and taking out their money and leadership.

Answer 7

Unlike the WW2, the both sides were afraid to die. Not this war, they welcome death so the threat of nuclear war doesnt phase these poeple. Muslims will say there is no islamic threat but then they vote for mullahs and muslims officials. Organizations like CAIR(council on american-islamic relations) make it no secret that they want to replace the constitution with the Quran. Bush needs to stop appeasment by calling islam a religion of peace; look where appeasement got us in WW2.

Answer 8

i'm wondering about devoting extra elements to its intelligence, protection and overseas kin members amenities yet i do not see how we may be able to close down information superhighway information superhighway sites and non secular amenities in overseas international locations. the U. S. does not extremely have a difficulty with American terrorists so there is not a lot to be received with the help of cracking down right here. in case you recognize of non secular amenities that incite human beings to violence interior the U. S., I agree it may nicely be stopped. i'd nicely be incorrect in assuming you're from the U. S.. Europe seem to have a difficulty with residing house grown hate.

Answer 9

Can, by not interfering in their domestic affairs. Leave them settle among themselves. They have their Islamic league and OIC, let them do the solving, not the US or any countries. When you being seen as interfering then you got also to accept and allow them to disturb your peace and come to your home ,like the bee hives. This is what happen. Stay out of people lives. You too don't want others to intrude yours. Always remember that.

Answer 10

Answer: Without an iota of doubt.

If you call these - killing fellow muslims (9/11), in Iraq; launching rockets from mosques, hospitals; mutilating bodies of those killed - winning... YOU HAVE LOST IT... as a people, as a culture. Islamists have little to contribute to the betterment of mankind.